I can tell you there are Jodo pure land death stories, I asked for them over at our group & Stephen & Shinri (priests) were so helpful in posting. These come from the past & there were collections,Ojoden, which as mentioned aren't translated.groups.google.com/group/jodoshubuddhism/browse_thread/thread/da765237b65d16e5

Now as for modern Jodo ones, I don't think there are any at all, but I'm going to ask in the Q & A section why we don't. I think modern materialistic people need such things. I love the Chinese Pure Land stories and they entirely helped me keep to my practice when i was starting out. I'm so pragmatic, I thought 'okay this happens in modern times; it still works!' gasshoRory

Someone from my group whose grandfather was a Jodo priest in Hawaii posted about his Ojo, so here's a modern case, so touching...groups.google.com/group/jodoshubuddhism/browse_thread/thread/cc76de0787612ca7 it's 5th from the bottom of the thread "tiki"Namu Amida Butsu!Rory

Following is an interesting recording of a Buddhist who could foretell the exact day and exact time Amitabha would be coming to fetch him to Pureland. He informed his master and his master held prayers for 7 days till his very last breath. Hundreds of devotees witnessed his departure on the exact day and exact time he foretold.

If anyone could assist in translating the pertinent parts, that would be great.

Dear Everyone here, i am new here, so I greet every old member here and How are you?. and Hi Mr Gordo. I am interested with your post as I ( I am a monk)myself also practice Pureland, besides Zen. I think have a translation for your video in English. So you can click the link in the website I make, you will have a full translation of this video, in addition I also have some more similar video, about a Buddhist Nun, she passed away in 2004, she practice Pureland, they creamated the body, and on the video you can see many different colour Salira(Relics) were prodiced( it's all recorded alive ), then another extraordinary event happened, the sun outside the temple suddenly come out in different colour, and emitted unusual light for 1 hour, you can see the sun had 5 small tails, and one of this tail in orange colour pointing all the way to the backyard of the temple, this story also happened in China. So just click this link. Thank you . Buddh a Bless Us.

look for title:video of a buddhist who knew in advance his own departure-----this is the full english translation for Me Gordo video, thenCompassion of the Buddha---------this is another remarkable alive video of a Bhiksuni/Nun who passed away , leave behind lots of colour of Saliea(Reilics) and Sun emitted unusual lights for 1 hour.

This was happened in Si Chuan, China. There was a Buddhist ( his name was Wei Guo Shiang) . He foretold his own death date and time( he said Buddha told him he would passed away on month 2, date 5 and year 2003 of the chinese calender.

Upasika( Buddhist lay people)Wei Guo Shiang was born in 4/4/1927 (chinese calender). He accept the Buddist Precept in 1997, and after 6 years of Buddhist practice, he was born in Pureland on 2/5/2003 (chinese calender).

This video recall him as someone after studying buddhism more deeply in 1997, developed a more compassion to others. Further he often printed Sutras(Teaching of Buddhas).Wei Guo Shiang after learning he got cancer, he devoted all his time reciting Amitabha Buddha's names, with the purpose of rebirth in Pureland(Nirwana) of Amitabha Buddha. From that time on he gave up all worldly pursue.

On 1/25/2003( chinese calender),11 days befor he departed this world, he told a monk that while he was reciting Buddhas' names, Buddha told him, his end was near and Buddha would fetch him on 2/5/2003 at 12 pm (chinese calender). This monk and others at the temple were happy hearing this news, so the monk decided to conduct 7 days farewell ceremony for him or 7 days of buddha dharma prayer session.The monk further said on the last day( on the seventh day, that was on 2/5/2003 at 12 pm) then he could departed this world.The ceremony would start from 1/29/2003 to 2/5/2003 (chinese calender).And as you watch the video, they conducted 7 days ceremony and all were recorded alive. And on the seventh day( 2/5/2003, at 12 pm), Wei Guo Shiang really departerd this world and this event was recorded alive on the camera and thousands people were there as the witnesses.

On the last day before Wei Guo Shiang departed this world, he sat comfortably in the chair ,bid farewell to Buddhist followers and thanks them and departed this world while reciting Buddha's names at 12 pm, 2/5/2003.

A lot of great material on your blog too!

How foolish you are, grasping the letter of the text and ignoring its intention! - Vasubandhu

I should preface my remark my indicating I'm very positively disposed to Jodo Shinsu. But, I've wondered more than a time or 2 to what degree NDE's have actually had a formulating role in the development of some Pure Land thought. NDE's as filtered through both Dharma and the local cultures from which the earliest forms developed. Earl

Well, as someone who believes on Pure Land i believe thats nothing born from false visions while suffering a NDE. I hope so!

But you raised an interesting question indeed.

If we assume that Buddha was a real enlightened being and he taught us the Pure Land teaching, so that means that Pure Land is real. If, in the other hand, Pure Land is a concept created by some monk, maybe any NDE or meditation experiences that he had, could induce him to believe in the existence of such a realm.

Regarding stories of Pure Land rebirths in Japan, there is a whole genre of texts called Ojoden which is dedicated to collecting such stories. I wrote a paper on Shotoku Taishi recently, who is considered a founder and patron saint of Japanese Buddhism, and he is seen as the first Japanese individual to achieve rebirth in Sukhavati according to these Ojoden. To get to the point, his teacher Eji (Hye-cha), following the death of Shotoku, announced that he would die exactly one year later, and join him in the Pure Land, which he did. So there is at least that example of someone in Japan predicting their own death and journey to the Pure Land - there are probably more in other Ojoden stories, but that's the only one I've read.

Edit: I see now that rory already mentioned Ojoden, should have read the thread a bit more thoroughly.

One question: isnt it a little bit unprobable that Shotoku was the 1st japanese reaching Pure Land? There was a lot of people contacting with Pure Land teachings since a long time (i suppose!) so why only recently would someone in Japan be the 1st to reach Pure Land?

Prince Shotoku is credited with establishing Buddhism in Japan. Certainly he appears very very early in Japanese Buddhist history, so presumable there wouldn't have been too many Japanese before him to be born in the Pure Land, at least if reciting nembutsu is a prerequisite.

Regarding NDE's. My mother was clinically dead for a time, and had the "white light" experience. ie traveleing through a tunnel towards a light brighter than anything imaginable, yet not painful to look at, and increasingly feeling a sense of peace and enveloping love and unconditional acceptance and compassion. When she first came to our local Jodo Shinshu Temple (she is a Christian, though not dogmatically so) and saw the shrine with a scroll of Amida standing emitting rays of light, she noted (without having been given any explanation as to what the scroll represented) that it looked like her NDE.

For myself, I happen to think NDE's are not simply hallucinations, and so I think the similarity is not a coincidence. The fact people of all faiths have the white light experience also is a caution to me about becoming overtly sectarian.

Shotoku supposedly lived around the year 600, so a long time ago indeed. The first records we have of buddhist texts and artefacts being brought to Japan from Korea are from around 550, and it was during Shotoku's time that the first big temples and such were built. He is credited with building the Horyuji, for example, which is the oldest wooden building in Japan or somesuch.

For those interested, I wrote a few short translations of excerpts from the Shotoku biography found in a text called the Nihon Ojo Zenden from 1882, included below. The first two excerpts are from the beginning and the last one is from the end.

Shōtoku Taishi was the second child of the Emperor Toyohi. In a dream of his mother the Empress, there was a golden coloured monk who said, “I have made a vow to save the world, [therefore] I wish to reside in your womb." The Empress asked, “Who are you?” The monk said, "I am the bodhisattva who saves the world, my home is in the west." The Empress answered, "My belly is not pure, what could reside there?" The monk said, "I have no issue with impurity, I simply feel hope for mankind." He jumped into her mouth, and immediately after it felt as though she had swallowed something. After this she realised that she was finally pregnant, and she went to eight months. From within her womb, those outside could hear a voice. At the birth, suddenly a yellow and red light arrived which shone from the west and into the palace.

From birth the child had the ability to speak. [During this period] all the people from the Kingdom of Paekche (in Korea) brought sutras and śastras. The Prince said to the Emperor, "I wish to open and inspect them". The Emperor was puzzled and said "Long ago [he must have] lived in China at the Southern Peak and for long periods studied the way of the Buddha".

At the time the Prince was six years old, his body smelled fragrantly, and a person who embraced him would smell fragrant also, a smell which would not go away for many months. [From] Paekche, Nichira came to visit Kōmyō. The Prince was wearing clothes like most children. On a day he went into the palace to look around, Nichira pointed at the Prince and said, "this is a divine being".

In the whole country, old as well as young felt sorrow [as though they had lost] a beloved child. The roads were filled with the wailing voices of mourning. […] The bodies of the Prince and the Empress smelled fragrantly as they had done in life. Both the bodies [became] light like fabric. When the Korean monk Eji heard of the Prince's death, he was grief-stricken and made a vow. He said, "The Japanese Prince was truly a great sage. I, although I am from a different country, feel as the people here do. What benefit can there be from being left alone in this aimless life? On the day of the Prince's death, I will surely die and be with the Prince in the Pure Land." On the twenty-first day of the second month of the following year, on the day of the Prince's death, Eji achieved his death just like he had said.

Practitioners claim there is evidence of dying people going to the pure land, such as: Knowing the time of death (預知時至): some prepare by bathing and reciting the name of the Buddha Amitabha. The "Three Saints of the West" (西方三聖): Amitābha Buddha and the two bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara on his right and Mahāsthāmaprāpta on his left, appear and welcome the dying person. Visions of other buddhas or bodhisattvas are disregarded as they may be bad spirits disguising themselves, attempting to stop the person from entering the Pure Land.[26] Records of practicing Pure Land Buddhists who have died have been known to leave śarīrā, or relics, after cremation.

The last part of the body to become cold is the top of the head (posterior fontanelle). In Buddhist teaching, souls who enter the Pure Land leave the body through the fontanelle at the top of the skull. Hence, this part of the body stays warmer longer than the rest of the body. The Verses on the Structure of the Eight Consciousnesses (八識規矩補註),[27] reads: "to birth in saints the last body temperature in top of head, to deva in eyes, to human in heart, to hungry ghosts in belly, to animals in knee cap, to the hells-realm in sole of feet." See also: phowa.

The dying person may demonstrate some, but not necessarily all, of these evidences. For example, his facial expression may be happy, but he may not demonstrate other signs, such as sharira and dreams.

Few buddhist also have practiced the harder Pratyutpanna samadhi.

The practice Fudaraku Tokai (補陀落渡海) in ancient Japan is viewed as religious suicide and is not practiced today.[28][29]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pureland_Buddhism

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_/\_Amituofo!

"Enlightenment is to turn around and see MY own mistake, Other's mistake is also my mistake. Others are right even if they are wrong. i'm wrong even if i'm right. " - Master Chin Kung